Journal #4 - Chapters 10~12 - Perspective: Calpurnia

That ole Tim Johnson surely scared all of us half to death. You really do never know what a crazy dog like that could do to the neighborhood. Tim was rather well known within Maycomb, as one of the very few dogs that we have around here, so when we see him with a broken leg, limpin' down the street looking like he's about to die, I knew I had to do something. My first instinct was to warn everyone about the dog, which is exactly what I did. The neighbors seemed very surprised at first and then realized how dangerous the dog could have been to all of us. For all we know it could have spread rabies across the whole town. We were all in a great amount of peril at the moment. 

 As the dog came up the street we all really started to panic, especially when it finally reached the Radley's place, which was awfully close to the Finch's. The county sheriff Mr. Heck Tate came and to all of our surprise, he handed his gun to Atticus to shoot the dog. Atticus' reaction was inaudible, and I could tell that he was hesitating. Someone like me who had already known of his hunting and shooting expertise, was put off a little at the fact that he was going to shoot the dog right in front of Jem and Scout. I was scared, as was everyone else, but Atticus seemed to have quickly picked up his skill again because before we all knew it Tim Johnson had rolled onto his side, his final resting place. 

 The days after that we going by pretty slowly and soon Atticus had to go off to the capital everyday for two weeks. That left me alone with Jem and Scout. It was amazing actually taking a step back to look at them and see how much they have grown. Scout has been pretty sad lately after she found out that Dill wasn't going to come back for the summer and Jem doesn't play with Scout very often anymore 'cause the boy just turned 12 and he's apparently got other  things to do that doesn't involve his little sister anymore. 

 Since Atticus was gone, I decided to take Jem and Scout to my church for a change. I made sure that they looked extra nice because I didn't want the congregation to think that I'm an irresponsible caretaker for the children. Jem was wearing his nice jacket, slacks and tie combination, while Scout was looking darling in a dress that she's probably only worn once before. Scout's new look was far from inconspicuous. 

 When we got to the church I was immediately approached by Lula, someone who always had something to say to me. This time she was giving me a hard time about bringing white children to a "colored" church, something that contradicted the idea of freedom between all races. All she did every week was treat me almost the same was that Ms. Dubose treats Jem and Scout. It's a sad thing to see that she acts that way even though she goes to church. 

 Church was then over and Jem and Scout had finally stopped bothering me about not having a contemporary church just because we didn’t have hymn books like they did. Then Scout suddenly became more interested in my life outside of their house, little did she know that I even had one. At the end of our conversation, she asked me if she could come to my house one day after work. I agreed happily and was thrilled to see that she was interested and showing off her feminine side a little bit more. Having a closer relationship with Scout will definitely be beneficial to the future.